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The Ecstasy of St. Kara

Sat, 09/10/2016 to Sat, 12/31/2016

The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Gallery

Centennial Exhibition

The Cleveland Museum of Art is pleased to present The Ecstasy of St. Kara: Kara Walker, New Work, debutingher latest series of large-scale works on paper. The drawings stem from Walker’s influential time spent in Rome this year, marking an extensive query about the power of myths and themes of martyrdom that dominate and complicate the issue of slavery and free will. Walker’s newest series reflects upon Christianity’s complex history, globally as well as in black life—in her own words, “alternating between captor and redeemer”—rendering it as absolutely current and pressing.

Kara Walker (born 1969) is a highly regarded artist of international prominence. She has received numerous awards throughout her career including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award. Walker’s artwork has been the subject of many exhibitions and is held in the collections of prestigious institutions around the world. Her first public art project, the monumental installation A Subtlety (2014), was commissioned by Creative Time and received wide acclaim.

This exhibition contains explicit imagery that may be inappropriate for young audiences.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is supported in part by Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

Support for the catalogue is generously provided in part by the Contemporary Art Society of the Cleveland Museum of Art.